Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has
challenged mining companies operating in Ghana and the entire West African
sub-region to work with Governments and regulatory bodies to establish a mining
index on local Stock Exchanges to allow both the owners and investors in the
minerals to benefit from its exploitation.
The benefits of a mining index on the
local bourse are enormous, enabling both the State, Mining Companies,
beneficiary communities and investors to attract the necessary capital and
built in incentives for all involved, Dr Bawumia indicated.
Speaking at the opening session of the
three-day West African Mining and Power Exhibition and Conference
(WAMPOC/WAMPEX) in Accra on Wednesday, 1st June 2022 Dr Bawumia urged African
countries to hasten the development of the capacity to interact with the
world’s natural resources banks, fund managers and the leading stock exchanges
in the world to allow locals to benefit more from the minerals bequeathed to
them by nature.
“In this regard, let me sound a clarion
call on the big mining companies operating here in Ghana and indeed, the West
African sub-region, to work towards the emergence of a mining index on our
Stock Exchanges and thereby accelerate their growth and significance in African
mining.
“This will require deep collaboration
among the local stock exchanges, their regulators, as well as mining firms to
incentivize Ghanaians to own listed greenfield exploration projects as the
upside on such investments tend to be higher”, he noted.
While acknowledging the enormous
resources found on the African continent, the Vice President called for a
careful balance between the profit-seeking needs of investors, and the
sustainable living needs of the communities within which the minerals are
found.
“Yes, Africa is endowed with many mineral
resources but while the availability of the resources is important, the
over-riding aim for all parties should be the evolution of a carefully balanced
mechanism to ensure that the resources of the state benefit the owners of the
resource and at the same time extend benefits to investors to ensure that the
State is able to sustainably attract the needed capital, investment and
technical know-how from a world which has come to the realisation that Africa
is the continent of the future.
“Significantly, the African Union has
been reassessing critically the real significance of mining to host country
economies over the years. As a result of these efforts, the African Mining
Vision (AMV) emerged as far back 2009. In essence the African Mining Vision
seeks to ensure the transparent, responsible, equitable and optimal
exploitation of Africa’s Mineral resources for broad-based sustainable
socio-economic development for the host Governments and its citizenry,” he
disclosed.
He challenged African countries and
mining companies to collaborate on a sub-regional and even regional basis to
derive the most benefit from the exploitation of Africa’s mineral resources.
“We need a strategy to enable us to pool
the mineral resource rich countries in West Africa and beyond together to
assume the mantle in the transformation of our economies with a greater
awareness of mining as a more comprehensive and transformational economic
activity and as a key back bone for our country.
“Given the paucity of size of stand-alone
countries it is only proper that we consider regional dimensions to local
content since individual African Country Markets may be too small to elicit the
much-needed investments. Investors desire economies of scale to justify such
investments and it is necessary that we consider the regional economic blocs in
Africa as sub-markets which can then collectively constitute the building
blocks of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana